1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to music stands for pianos and, more particularly, to an improved music stand for mounting on an upright piano which includes a forwardly extending base plate, a back plate extending generally perpendicular to the base plate upwards therefrom and a rear rail-engaging plate extending rearwards from the back plate and base plate, the rail-engaging plate having an arcuate cross-section curvature to frictionally engage the piano rail on the upright piano thus providing an improved support structure for sheet music.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Upright or studio pianos are popular for many different reasons, including the fact that they do not occupy a large floor space yet produce a vibrant piano sound. They are popular for teaching piano lessons as well as for being used in size-limited performance spaces. In general, upright pianos include an area above the keyboard which is used as a music stand to support sheet music for the piano player. To retain the sheet music on the upright piano, the majority of upright pianos also include a raised rail which extends parallel to the keyboard in front of the body of the upright piano such that sheet music may be placed against the upright portion of the piano and be prevented from sliding forwards by the sheet music piano rail. However, the use of this rail is not always a simple matter as the sheet music tends to collapse downwards and fall into an unviewable position and further, due to the relatively small size of the sheet music piano rail, the turning and repositioning of the pages of sheet music can be made quite difficult. There is therefore a need for an improved sheet music stand for use with an upright piano which addresses and solves many of the problems not solved by the sheet music piano rail.
Several devices have been proposed in the prior art which attempt to address and correct these deficiencies found in connection with the sheet music piano rail of the upright piano. These include such devices as Pepper, U.S. Pat. No. 556,064 and Chappell et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,491,277. Each of these devices attempt to improve upon the piano rail previously used for supporting sheet music, but they do not fully address and correct the problems encountered in displaying and using sheet music, particularly in that the Pepper device is only useable with one particular kind of sheet music stand which is found on only a very small number of upright pianos and the Chappell device actually provides only an incremental improvement over the standard piano rail in that it simply adds a slightly upwardly tilted base plate which provides only a small improvement over the piano rail in retaining sheet music thereon. There is therefore a need for an improved music stand for upright pianos which provides a relatively large surface for displaying sheet music and which quickly and easily mounts to virtually any upright piano having a sheet music piano rail.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved music stand for upright pianos.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved music stand for upright pianos which includes a forwardly extending base plate, a back plate extending generally perpendicular to the base plate upwards therefrom and a rear rail-engaging plate extending rearwards from the back plate and base plate, the rail-engaging plate having an arcuate cross-section curvature to frictionally engage the piano rail on the upright piano thus providing an improved support structure for sheet music.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved music stand for upright pianos which is formed out of an acrylic plastic material which is translucent and rigid to enhance the appearance of the piano while still efficiently supporting sheet music thereon.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved music stand for upright pianos which may be quickly and easily mounted on the piano rail on the piano when the piano is in use, so that sheet music may be securely and prominently displayed on the improved music stand, and when the piano is not in use, the improved music stand may be quickly and easily removed from the piano merely by disengaging it from the piano rail thereby allowing the appearance of the piano to be unencumbered.
Finally, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved music stand for upright pianos which is relatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture and which is safe, efficient and effective in use.